CUNNING OF SLED-DOGS 155 



It is not uncommon to find an outcast dog, or 

 a lost dog, living along the shores of lake or river 

 like a totally wild animal. Living thus they 

 gather oddments of food from the water's edge, 

 besides what live prey they catch, such odd- 

 ments as dead fish that are washed ashore, or 

 carcass of duck or gull ; sometimes too they 

 chance on a nest of eggs, while if there are berries 

 ripening in the woods they will even devour those 

 in their hunger. It is under such circumstances 

 that one may observe the full reawakened wild- 

 natured cunning of those brutes, for their sense 

 of smell when roaming thus becomes keen and 

 suspicious as a wolf's, and they will examine 

 any particle of food with great care before 

 daring to touch it, as if they feared poison or a 

 trap with all the dread of a once caught, once 

 escaped, wild thing. If you want further proof 

 of how close they are to their wild forefathers, 

 watch them at dusk, cunning as wolf or fox, and 

 as naturally stealing through the pine woods 

 over dry, moss-grown knolls, eyes and ears and 

 nose alert, treading stealthily with head forward 

 and tail straight, ready instantly to pounce on 

 spruce-grouse or rabbit or any living thing the 

 high-strung senses may detect. 



There is one thing in the way of food that, as 

 far as I know, a sled- dog will not touch, and that 

 is mice. I've seen dead mice lying outside 

 cabins for days untouched, where ravenous sled- 

 dogs existed. This is peculiar, because some 

 domestic dogs will eat mice, though it is true 

 they are often sick after doing so. 



I have said that all sled-dogs will steal. I'm 



